Sunday, September 22, 2013

Update: MTG Doctor 9.2.7

Aside from creating this blog to provide you with as much information about the features in MTG Doctor. A second reason to do this is to also provide you with more detailed information on some of the more complex updates that we perform. This is specially the case when we add new features.

In this update of MTG Doctor we did not add new features but instead we improved on some of the existing tools. One of the tools that saw a great improvement is the Suggested Land Distribution. In this update we improved the suggestion algorithm to figure out the intended colors of your deck and use this information when dealing with cards that have a split or hybrid Mana cost.

Improved Land Suggestion Algorithm

Let's look at the following cards:

4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Hellrider
2 Lightning Mauler
12 Mountain
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Rancor

These would yield a Mana Distribution like the one in the image below. This is due to cards like Boros Reckoner (R/W) and Rakdos Cackler (B/R).

Contains cards like Boros Reckoner and Rakdos Cackler
Due to our improved algorithm the 'Suggested Land Cards' tool figures out that the colors of this deck being created are Red and Green. Since Rakdos Cackler can be paid with either Red or Black Mana there is no need to add swamps to this deck because mountains will do the trick. The same applies for Boros Reckoner, which can be played with either Red or White Mana, there is no need to add plains to this deck since mountains will do just fine.

Thus the new algorithm produces a suggestion like the one presented bellow.

Land suggestion produced by the newest suggestion algorithm.

Simplified Dice Roll

Another improvement we made during the release is a simplification of the dice rolling feature of the Battle Helper. Before this update whenever you selected the 'Dice Roll' feature you were presented with a list of dice roll for every single die. As of this version we removed this and instead provided you with means to select the die to roll. We also provided with an easy re-roll button so you can easy re-roll.

New Dice Roll Screen

Select a die to roll. 

Special Thanks

Special thanks on this release go to:

  • Keil McGettigan - For his suggestion of the hybrid Mana improvement which lead us to develop the new Suggested Land Distribution algorithm.
  • Ujjimbo - For this suggestion of the improvements for the Die Roll feature.




Extras: Move DB To SD

The 'Move DB To SD' tool allows you to transfer your card database and the cache database to your SD cards. Even though Android provides a way to move your applications to your SD card this does not move any databases that are part of your app. Hence we developed this tool to manually move your DB to your SD card in order to free up the internal memory of your phone.

Transfer your Database to your SD card to save internal memory.

Extras: Banned/Restricted Cards

The 'Banned Cards' tools provides with a list of all the banned and restricted cards in a given format. This is intended to be quick look up guide to help during games. Simply select the format and see the cards that are banned or restricted.

View the list of banned and restricted cards for a set.
Touch a card to see the image and price.

Extras: Wishlist

The 'Wishlist' feature allows you to create ad keep track of the cards that you are looking for. It also calculates the average price of each card as well as the overall total of your wishlist.

Wishlist Screen


The price and quantity can be modified by simply clicking on a given card. Since the tool uses the average price you can also press the 'View Card' button to view all the price information including low, average and high prices. Pressing the reset button, will attempt to recalculate the prices by looking at the most recent price.

Edit the quantity and price for a card.

View the card for additional pricing information.


Extras: MTG Trader

MTG Trader was created to make the trading process easy and seamless. This tool allows you to quickly search for a cards and instantly get the price. As the trade list is populated MTG Trader calculates the total cost of the trade to see if it is favorable to you or not.

Trading a Chromatic Lantern for nothing might not be a good trade for you...


In order to calculate if the trade is favorable or not, MTG Trader expects the cards that you are trading for to be on the right hand side column. If the 'Profit' margin is green and is a positive number then it is a good trade. If it is negative and red then it may not be a good trade.

One Chromatic Lantern for a Mutavault?! What's the catch?



The price and quantity can be modified by simply clicking on a given card. Since the tool uses the average price you can also press the 'View Card' button to view all the price information including low, average and high prices. Pressing the reset button, will attempt to recalculate the prices by looking at the most recent price.

Touch a card and you can update the price and quantity.

You can also view the cards to see the foil price.


Extras: MTG News

The MTG News tools was created to provide players quick access to the latest news from Wizards of the Coast as well as other news sources. By default MTG News is set to receive news from Daily MTG, but we do have other sources you can choose from.

Daily MTG Feed


Note: If you have a news source not currently found here, just send us an email and we'll be glad to add it.

Current sources

Extras: Booster Pack

The Booster Pack tool allows you to simulate opening packs for a given set. Though mainly intended for fun we have made sure to simulate the distribution of packs for even some of the special sets. For example, packs in Dragon's Maze do not contain basic lands, so neither do our simulated packs.


Simply click on a pack to open it


In order to simulate your booster packs simply select the set for which to generate packs and press the 'Add Booster Packs' buttons. You can generate packs for any combination of set. Simply click on a given set to open the pack and see the cards.

See the cards inside the pack

Extras: Suggestion/Reporting

As developers and MTG players we put a lot of effort into MTG Doctor to ensure it is a tool that we enjoy using. However, this is only half of what we believe makes MTG Doctor great. The other half is YOU, the community members. MTG Doctor would not be as great if it wasn't for all the suggestions and reports we have received from many of you.

In order to make the process of contacting us as simple as possible we have created two ways you can contact us from within MTG Doctor. These are the 'Suggest a Feature' and the 'Report a Problem' buttons in the Extras section.

Is there a feature you would like to see? Send us an email!


Suggest a Feature: This already prepares the email heading and the recipient account to ensure that when you send the email it gets to the feature list.

Did you catch a bug that got away from us? Send us an email.

Report a Problem: Similarly to the 'Suggest a Feature' this handles all the work of creating the email for the problem. We have found this to be the best way to contact us regarding problems as the current reporting tools that many of the market places have are not too consistent.


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Main: Search

The Search tool in MTG Doctor allows you to quickly look up a cards and get pricing information. You can narrow your search by format as well as individual sets. 

Search View

Auto Complete for card names and types

Card Prices from TCGPlayer.com
Note: While searching does not require an internet connection or service pricing information does. Since the prices are obtained from TCGPlayer.com you will need access to the web. If the site cannot be reached the prices will display as -1.

Main: Battle Helper

The 'Battle Helper' tools is intended to help MTG Doctor users to keep track of battle damage. You can also track your planeswalker point and poison counters.

The Battle Helper also keeps track of the Game History of a deck if the deck is selected. The Battle Helper then records loses when a given player loses. Once all the players have been defeated the last remaining player will receive a victory. This record can be found in the Diagnosis Tools: Game History.

Battle Helper

 Setting Player Name: You can set the player name by clicking the player button on top of each player group. The Player button are the buttons labeled "Player 1", "Player 2" etc.

Changing Player Name

 As of version 9.2.7 of MTG Doctor we have improved the 'Roll Die' tool. As of this version you can choose the die to roll from a list of dice.

Dice List


Rolling a 10 sided die

Reset: Pressing the 'Reset' button will revert all the counters back down to zero.

LONG PRESS: Holding down on the 'Reset' button will cause the Battle Helper to clear all the records and player names. Any additional players will also be removed and the Battle Helper will be return to its original two player view.

Main: Deck View

The 'Deck View' shows the cards present in the active deck. Each card is separated in each own section based on its type in order to make finding a given card easier. Within each section the cards are organized in alphabetical order by their name.

'Deck' View

In this view you can also save your deck to the SD card. Currently three formats are supported: dec, dek, and txt. In order to select the format during save time simply add the extension to your file name. For example if you wanted to save your deck in dek format you would name it something like "GrullAggro.dek". MTG Doctor will handle the rest. If no type is specified MTG Doctor will save the deck as a ".txt".

Saving a deck to SD



LONG PRESS: Holding down the 'Save' button prepares the deck to be sent via email.
Deck list ready to be sent


Main: My Decks

Upon clicking on the 'My Decks' button you are taken to the decks list view. In here you will be allowed to create new decks, as well as view, edit and delete your already created decks.

'My Decks' Screen
In MTG Doctor we make extensive use of the LONG PRESS or LONG CLICK feature of your mobile device in order to take advantage of the the screen real state as much as possible. In the 'My Decks' screen we make use of this to accomplish to functions.

LONG PRESS: Touching and Holding down on the name of a single deck brings up the Delete/Edit function which allows you to edit the information of your deck or delete the entire deck.

Correcting a type in the description of this deck

The second function is the ability to load the decks of previous champions so you can analyze them. If you used MTG Doctor Demo before you might have noticed that the button is no longer visible in MTG Doctor. Instead you can long press the create deck button to bring up this function.

LONG PRESS: Touch and Hold down the 'Create New Deck' button and you will be prompted to load the champion decks. Simple touch outside the dialog to cancel the operation.

Long Press 'Create New Deck' to load champion decks

Loading Decks From SD: You can also load your decks from the SD card by clicking "Load Deck". Currently MTG Doctor supports ".dek" , ".dec" and ".txt" files.

Diagnosis Tools: Game Simulator

The Game Simulator tool allows you to simulate drawing your deck for a number of games and turns. This is ideal for running 1000+ simulations in without going through the trouble of doing so with the physical deck. The simulation provides you with a distribution of how many times there was: Mana Flood, Mana Screw, or Color Screw.

Game Simulator Screen
LONG PRESS: Touching and Holding a slice show a list the list of simulations. Touching and Holding the area outside the pie it displays information about the simulation.

Simulation List Screen
This screen allows you see the cards that were in that simulation.

Simulation View



Diagnosis Tools: Game History

The Games History tool records the number of times that the deck has won or lost matches. In order to enable this feature the deck must be selected as the active deck in the Battle Helper.

Games History screen
Select a Deck to track its Game History

Diagnosis Tools: Apprise Deck

The Apprise Deck tool provides you with an estimate of your entire deck as well as the individual cards. This tool also allows you buy the deck as a whole or each individual card.

Prices: Prices are currently obtained from TCGPlayer.com

Apprise Deck Screen


Apprise a single card

Diagnosis Tools: Draw Simulator

The Draw Simulator tool provides you with an easy way to shuffle and draw a new hand. This allows you to also test for Mulligan.

Draw Simulator Sceen

LONG PRESS: Touching and Holding down on a card opens up the browser and takes you the Gatherer site for more information on a give card.
Gatherer Page

Diagnosis Tools: Toughness Distribution

The Toughness Distribution tool provides you with information about toughness distribution of your deck. It shows what percent of your deck is composed by creatures of a given toughness.

PRESS: Touching a single slice provides information on the number of creatures of that toughness and the total number of copies in your deck.
Toughness Distribution Screen

LONG PRESS: Touching and Holding the area outside the pie chart shows the total number of creature spells in your library.

Total Number of Creature Spells

Diagnosis Tools: Toughness Curve

The Toughness Curve tools provides you with information on the toughness curve of your deck.


Toughness Curve Screen
LONG PRESS: Touching and Holding a bar will display all the cards with the given toughness in your deck.
Creatures with Toughness of 1

Diagnosis Tools: Power Distribution

The Power Distribution tool provides you with information on the power distribution of your deck.

PRESS: Touch a slice and see the number of cards with a given power and the percent they make up among your other creatures.
Power Distribution Screen

LONG PRESS: Touching and holding outside the pie area displays the total number of creature spells in your library.

Total Number of Creature Spells


Diagnosis Tools: Power Curve

The Power Curve tool provides you with information about the power curve of your deck.

Power Curve Screen

LONG PRESS: Touching down and holding one of the bars in the chart shows you all the cards that match that power.

Cards with Power of 2
LONG PRESS: Touching and Holding Down on a card image opens up the web browser and redirects you to the Gatherer website for additional information on the card.

Gatherer Page